President Trump kicked off his second term by signing a aimed at overturning his predecessor's policies and delivering on some of his many campaign promises.
Within hours of his inauguration, Trump had of former President Joe Biden's executive actions and signed dozens of orders, memorandums and proclamations of his own.
Some took effect quickly, like his pardon of some 1,500 , which saw released from the D.C. jail on Monday night. Others, such as an order directing agency heads to "deliver emergency price relief," may take longer to implement.
And many 鈥� including orders (a preexisting federal law) and (a right enshrined in the Constitution) 鈥� were , or are expected to face, legal challenges.
Executive orders need not be approved 鈥� and cannot simply be overturned 鈥� by Congress, according to the (ABA).
But Congress and the courts can potentially block executive orders in other ways.
In 1952, for example, the that President Harry Truman did not have the authority to issue an executive order seizing steel mills to ensure production during the Korean War. In 1992, Congress nullified President George H.W. Bush's executive order establishing a human fetal tissue bank for scientific research by passing a saying it "shall not have any legal effect."
"Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding," the ABA's website says. "Only a sitting U.S. President may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect."
The difference between orders, memorandums and proclamations聽
There are several types of executive actions that presidents can take to reshape government policy without legislation: executive orders, memorandums and proclamations.
Executive orders are directed toward 鈥� and govern the actions of 鈥� government officials and agencies, according to the .
They have the force of law if the topic is "founded on the authority of the president derived from the Constitution or statute" and are required to be published in the Federal Register (the daily journal of the federal government) to notify the public.
"It can't replace or contravene statutes enacted by Congress, it can only 'fill in the gaps,'" wrote Susan Sullivan Lagon of the at Georgetown University. Laws, in contrast, originate in Congress (which is now ).
Most presidents have issued at least one executive order, starting with for federal department heads to "impress me with a full, precise & distinct general idea of the United States" in their fields.
Other notable examples include President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1942 order authorizing the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, Truman's 1948 executive order desegregating the U.S. military and President Barack Obama's 2012 order issuing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Executive memorandums are similar to executive orders but differ in process: They are not required to cite the president's legal authority or be printed in the Federal Register, which makes them harder to track.
Like notices, letters and messages, memorandums are signed by the president and are "used to manage administrative matters of the federal government," the ABA's website explains.
Obama issued over 400 memorandums on topics ranging from gun control to immigration to overtime regulations, according to , while Trump used them during his first term to take actions like imposing tariffs on China and tightening asylum laws.
Presidential proclamations, in contrast, typically concern the activities of private individuals and do not usually have the force of law. They are typically used to convey information about holidays, commemorations and federal observances.
Recently, for example, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation announcing the death of former President Jimmy Carter, in which he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for 30 days and designated a national day of mourning.
While proclamations are seen as largely ceremonial today, the Library of Congress notes that they historically did more "heavy lifting."
They include some of the most influential documents in American history, like Washington's 1789 proclamation , President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 (which declared enslaved people in Confederate states free) and President Gerald Ford's of former President Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal in 1974.
How often executive orders are typically used
Thousands of presidential executive orders have been issued in U.S. history, according to a tracker from the .
All but one president 鈥� William Henry Harrison, who 鈥� issued executive orders, though the format and process have changed over the years.
The numbering of executive orders, for example, did not start until 1907, and regulations for filing them in the Federal Register were established only in 1936 (ironically via , issued by Roosevelt).
Presidents have increasingly come to rely on executive orders as a tool. While early presidents' tallies were typically in the single digits 鈥� John Adams, James Madison and James Monroe each issued only one 鈥� that number grew steadily over the 20th century.
President Theodore Roosevelt became the first to break 1,000, averaging 145 executive orders per year. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a record 3,721 during his unprecedented 12 years in office.
Since then, the number of executive orders issued under each president has numbered in the low hundreds. Biden issued 162 orders, while Trump issued 220 during his first term.
Yale Law School professor Cristina Rodr铆guez in 2017 that while some presidents have faced criticism for enacting their agendas more through executive orders than legislation, quantity isn't the only metric worth considering.
"The number of executive orders doesn't tell you anything about whether those orders are lawful or whether the president has exceeded his authority," she said. "What matters is what he's doing in the orders."
Copyright 2025 NPR